Dundee-Crown 65, Prairie Ridge 58

Dundee-Crown boys basketball coach Lance Huber got an opportunity Friday night to see the Aaron Reams in a game that he sees in practice.

Reams scored all 11 of his points in the second half, including a key steal and 3-point play late in the fourth quarter, to help the Chargers beat Prairie Ridge, 65-58, in a Fox Valley Conference crossover game in Carpentersville.

"I thought Aaron Reams played excellent," Huber said. "He slashes to the basket in practice and he transferred that into the game. Hopefully he can build on that and continue to perform like that."

Reams and D-C (4-1) increased a 1-point halftime lead to 9 in the first 2:40 of the third quarter. Charles Kimbrough hit a free throw and Jeff Strzelczyk connected on a 3-pointer. A Reams steal led to a Jeff Beck basket. Then a Reams bucket with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter gave the Chargers a 34-25 lead.

Reams added two more baskets in the next 3 minutes as D-C maintained at least a 4-point lead throughout the third.

"One of our assistants said something to me (during halftime). He said, 'You need to come out strong like you did in the fall. Do what you do,' " Reams said. "I just stepped it up."

The Wolves (5-2) got within 2, 45-43, with just over 5 minutes left after a Jon Williams basket. D-C increased the lead to 6 again, 53-47, after an offensive rebound and putback from Reams with 3:30 remaining. Prairie Ridge cut the deficit to 2, 53-51, a minute later. Greg McNally hit a baseline jumper to increase D-C's lead to 4. Reams then stole the ball near midcourt, drove to the basket, hit the basket and was fouled. The senior's free throw was good as the Chargers took a 58-51 lead with 2:13 to play. The Wolves would not got any closer than 5 the rest of the way.

"(D-C) played solid basketball. That was really the name of the game tonight," Prairie Ridge coach Corky Cord said. "They played a better game of basketball than we did."

Beck led all scorers with 17 points, 10 in the second half. Kimbrough added 13 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Chad Ljunggren led Prairie Ridge with 13 points. Bryan Bradshaw had 11 and Kevin Kaczmarski had 10 for the Wolves